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New law will ensure some criminals stay in jail for life, Stephen Harper says

Some convicted murderers will face the prospect of spending life behind bars and will have to appeal to the federal cabinet if they ever hope to see freedom again under tougher new sentencing rules unveiled by Stephen Harper.

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the government will introduce new legislation to ensure a life sentence means exactly that — a sentence for life without parole. The current law allows no chance of parole for 25 years.(CP)

OTTAWA—Some convicted murderers will face the prospect of spending the rest of their lives behind bars and will have to appeal to the federal cabinet if they ever hope to see freedom again under tougher new sentencing rules unveiled by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

“For the most heinous offenders and the most horrific crimes, a life sentence in Canada will henceforth mean exactly that — a sentence for life,” Harper said Wednesday.

“Canadians ask rightly why the most dangerous killers, once in prison, should ever be free again,” he said.

Speaking to an audience in Scarborough, Harper said amendments to the Criminal Code would be introduced next week to toughen the sentences for certain types of murder — “criminals whose crimes are so horrific that they shock the conscience of the entire community.” Harper said.

The changes are meant to keep some murderers behind bars for the rest of their life with no access to parole.

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But the change sparked criticism that the Conservatives were pushing ahead with an ideological, tough-on-crime agenda more rooted in politics than sound policy.

Legislation announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Scarborough on Wednesday follows through on a promise made in the 2013 Speech from the Throne. (Darren Calabrese / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

NDP justice critic Françoise Boivin (Gatineau) questioned the motives behind the move, saying the “most dangerous killers are already denied parole and held for life.

“We believe in evidence-based policies that actually work. Sentencing reform should be focused on improving public safety, not on scoring political points,” Boivin said in a statement.

The tougher sentences would apply to first-degree murders involving sexual assault; kidnapping or forcible confinement; terrorism; the killing of police officers or corrections officers; or those deemed to be “particularly brutal,” according to a statement from Harper’s office.

Courts would also have the discretion to impose life sentences without parole in any other first-degree murder case or for offenders with a previous murder conviction.

Currently, those convicted of first-degree murder face an automatic sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

“When someone breaks the law and pays their debt to society, our hope is always for permanent rehabilitation,” he said.

“But there are some criminals, the most dangerous violent offenders whose actions means that we cannot risk permitting them back on our streets.”

While the legislation seeks to close the door on the some types of killers, Harper said that to address “legitimate constitutional concerns,” there must be recourse for “exceptional circumstances.”

That’s why the amendments would allow a murderer serving life without parole to petition the public safety minister for “relief” after serving a minimum of 35 years.

“Let me be clear. This is not parole,” Harper said.

“Unlike parole, decisions will not rest with an appointed board but with the federal cabinet, men and women fully accountable to their fellow citizens and to the families of the victims of these crimes,” he said.

Experts reached Wednesday cautioned that it was difficult to evaluate the move without seeing the details of the legislation but suggested the changes are certain to face a constitutional challenge.

“When you start singling out certain categories of first-degree murder, you always end up by being arbitrary. The Supreme Court of Canada has indicated to the Harper government and their law and order agenda that they can’t be arbitrary,” said Don Stuart, a professor in the faculty of law at Queen’s University.

He said this latest justice move places Harper “completely in the right wing of the American politics.”

“I do think it’s quite ridiculous to be suggesting that just to serve the interests of law and order politics that somebody gets to serve 35 years rather than 25 years in jail, at great expense and for no good,” he said in an interview.

Howard Sapers, the Correctional Investigator for Canada, said that “life means life today.

“An offender that is convicted of first-degree murder is under sentence for the rest of his or her life. What we’re talking about is the portion of the sentence that may be supervised in the community by a parole officer,” he said.

He said there are about 1,100 offenders convicted of first-degree murder in the system today; two-thirds are behind bars and one-third are being supervised in the community.

“The third being supervised in the community have a very, very low recidivism rate of any kind, let alone recidivism involving violent crime,” Sapers told the Star.

Harper said Wednesday that proposed change would have little impact on costs. But Sapers said it risked adding to the congestion that already exists in prisons “and putting increasing demands on resources.”

Liberal MP Wayne Easter, who served as solicitor general under the previous Liberal government, cautioned against making the fate of convicted murderers a political issue at the cabinet table.

“Let the parole board do its job. . . . They’re the experts in the field,” Easter said.

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